NY Subway Victim’s Daughter: Would’ve Been Great If Someone Had Helped My Dad

Serim Han, right, holds a picture of her husband Ki-Suck Han as she sits next to their daughter Ashley Han, 20, during a news conference on Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 in New York. A homeless man was arrested Wednesday in the death of Ki-Suck Han, who was pushed onto the tracks and photographed just before a train struck him. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

NEW YORK — The daughter of a man pushed in front of a subway train and photographed a split-second before his death said Wednesday after a suspect was arrested that it “would have been great” if someone had helped her father up but “what’s done is done.”

A freelance photographer for the New York Post was waiting for a train Monday afternoon when he said he saw a man approach 58-year-old Ki-Suck Han at the Times Square station, get into an altercation with him and push him into the train’s path.

Naeem Davis, 30, was taken into custody for questioning Tuesday after security video showed a man fitting the suspect’s description working with street vendors near Rockefeller Center. Police said Davis made statements implicating himself in Han’s death.

Davis, who police said was homeless, was arrested on a second-degree murder charge. He was in custody, and it wasn’t immediately clear if he had a lawyer. He has several prior arrests in New York and Pennsylvania on mostly minor charges including drug possession.

Han’s only child, 20-year-old Ashley, said at a news conference Wednesday that her father was always willing to help someone. But when asked about why no one helped him up, she said: “What’s done is done.”

“The thought of someone helping him up in a matter of seconds would have been great,” she said.

Ashley stood with her mother, Serim Han, inside their Presbyterian church in Queens. The family came to the U.S. from Korea about 25 years ago. They said Han was unemployed and had been looking for work. Their pastor said the family was so upset by a front-page photo of Han in the Post that they had to stay with him for comfort.

“I just wish I had one last chance to tell my dad how much I love him,” Ashley Han said.

The Post photo in Tuesday’s edition showed Ki-Suck Han with his head turned toward the train, his arms reaching up but unable to climb off the tracks in time.

The photographer, R. Umar Abbasi, told NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday that he was trying to alert the motorman to what was going on by flashing his camera.

He said he was shocked that people nearer to the victim didn’t try to help in the 22 seconds before the train struck.

“It took me a second to figure out what was happening … I saw the lights in the distance. My mind was to alert the train,” Abbasi said.